- Trump Says He May Pull Blanche’s Attorney General Nomination Until Dissenting Senators Leave Office
Source: US News & World Report
“President Donald Trump said Thursday he may pull acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination for the full-time post to avoid making concessions to a few Senate Republicans who want him to scale back protections for his family business and potential payouts for his allies that the president negotiated with his own Department of Justice. Trump doubled down on choosing his former personal lawyer as the nation’s top lawman, calling him ‘a STAR,’ and said he will keep him in the role as acting attorney general until Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina leave office. … Cornyn and Tillis, who both leave office next year, have sought additional assurances in writing spelling a final end to that an ‘Anti-Weaponization Fund’ as part of Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service.” (07/30/26)
- Senate panel approves CDC nominee, controversial HHS pick
Source: Axios
“The Senate health committee approved the nomination of Erica Schwartz for Centers for Disease Control director Thursday, a step toward refilling the depleted ranks of the Trump administration’s health care leadership. The committee also approved the nomination of Sean Kaufman, who’s in line for assistant secretary for preparedness and response and had been in trouble because of past anti-vaccine statements. The votes showed Republicans, at least, are still willing to accept the administration’s assurances about the nominees even though committee chair Bill Cassidy has made it clear he’s uneasy with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s policies. The narrow committee endorsements put both nominees in line for votes to be confirmed by the full Senate, which have yet to be scheduled.” (07/30/26)
https://www.axios.com/2026/07/30/senate-panel-approves-cdc-nominee-schwartz-kaufman
- Palestine: Israeli strikes kill at least four, including children, across Gaza Strip
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“At least four people have been killed and dozens injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza despite an ongoing ‘ceasefire’ in the latest violation of the agreement that was meant to help end the genocide. According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health on Thursday, hospitals across the Gaza Strip received six bodies and 34 injured people in the past 24 hours. These include four new deaths, as well as one person who died from previous injuries and one body that was recovered.” (07/30/26)
- US economy slowed to 1.5% growth rate in Q2; June core inflation at 3.3%
Source: CNBC
“Economic growth was weaker than expected in the second quarter while inflation in June held well above the Federal Reserve’s goal, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. Gross domestic product, a broad measure of goods and services, increased just 1.5% for the April-through June period, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers adjusted for seasonality and inflation. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for a growth rate of 1.8%, following the 2.1% increase in the first quarter. A separate report showed that the personal consumption expenditures price index, which is the Federal Reserve’s primary forecasting gauge, fell a seasonally adjusted 0.1% for the month, putting the annual inflation rate at 3.7%. The readings were in line with forecasts.” (07/30/26)
- US Aircraft Carrier Makes a Rare Port Call in Vietnam
Source: New York Times
“For the fourth time since the end of the Vietnam War, a United States aircraft carrier made a port call in Vietnam on Thursday, promoting joint security ties at a time when tariffs and the war in Iran have hurt American influence across Asia. The carrier George Washington pulled into the quiet waters near Da Nang on day 70 of its deployment — not far from the beaches where U.S. Marines first landed in 1965, accelerating a war that killed around 58,000 Americans and 2 million Vietnamese. Both countries celebrated the 7-day port call, the longest stay in Vietnam for an American warship since the two countries restored relations in 1995, as a sign of how far the former enemies have come.” (07/30/26)
- Congo: Regime says the death toll in fastest-growing Ebola outbreak has passed 1,500
Source: ABC News
“The fastest-growing Ebola outbreak has killed more than 1,500 people in eastern Congo, official data released on Thursday showed, marking a 50% increase in around a week that shows the emergency continuing to outpace response efforts. As of Tuesday, 3,442 cases had been recorded, with 1,521 deaths, according to the latest government update. The outbreak, which was declared on May 15, has been linked to the Bundibugyo virus, for which there are no approved vaccines or treatments.” (07/30/26)
- The spacecraft NASA sent to rescue the falling Swift observatory is in trouble
Source: Engadget
In early July, NASA launched a spacecraft designed to rescue the Swift observatory, which is currently decaying at a faster rate than normal, in hopes that it could still collect data for scientists over the coming years. But now that spacecraft itself is in trouble, and the fate of the mission remains unclear. In an update on the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory blog, NASA has revealed that the spacecraft called LINK experienced attitude control issues last weekend, meaning it had problems managing its orientation in space. That caused the spacecraft to spin, which in turn resulted to sporadic communications. … Thankfully, the ground team still has communication with LINK, and it’s planning to use the spacecraft’s electric propulsion thrusters to try and stop its spinning over the coming days.” (07/30/26)
https://www.engadget.com/2226863/nasa-swift-rescue-link-probe-in-trouble/
- Study: Viagra shows potential against cancer spread
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“Best known as Viagra, the erectile dysfunction drug sildenafil started off as a treatment for reduced blood flow but soon saw its value spike after its other effects became clear. The blue pill could have more uses, according to research by scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Tel Aviv. The team found indications that it curbs cancer metastasis via a ‘newly discovered biological mechanism’ drawing upon the drug’s blood dilatation effects. … the team says an analysis of digital health records pointed to ‘significantly improved survival among sildenafil users, with a dose-dependent additive benefit observed when combined with statins.'” (07/30/26)
- US Filings for Jobless Benefits Rise to 197,000 Last Week, but Layoffs Remain Historically Low
Source: US News & World Report
“The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose last week but layoffs remain in the historically healthy range of the past few years. U.S. filings for jobless aid in the week ending July 25 rose by 9,000 to 197,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The previous week’s figure was revised up by 1,000 to 188,000 but remains the lowest in more than 50 years. Analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet forecast 207,000 new applications. Weekly filings for unemployment benefits are considered representative of layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the U.S. job market.” (07/30/26)
- Australia: Regime takes Telegram to court over alleged failure to remove ‘pro-terror’ material
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Australia is taking Telegram to court over its alleged failure to remove ‘pro-terror’ material, including video of the Christchurch shootings, the country’s eSafety commissioner has said. Julie Inman-Grant, who last year led Australia’s world-first ban on social media for under-16s, said the platform faced a fine of up to to A$54.6m (£28m, US$38m) for failing to comply with its safety obligations under the Online Safety Act. The platform had left content ‘linked to some of the most notorious acts of known extremist violence in recent history’ online long after it had been put on notice, she alleged.” (07/30/26)
- GA: Father faces sentencing in vexatious prosecution over son’s crime
Source: Seattle Times
“A man who gave his son the gun used to kill two students and two teachers at Appalachee High School in Georgia is set to be sentenced Thursday after he was convicted of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter. Colin Gray’s sentencing comes just days after his 16-year-old son, Colt Gray, pleaded guilty to murder and other charges and was sentenced to serve life in prison without the possibility of parole for the Sept. 4, 2024, shooting …. The elder Gray is one of a handful of parents around the country who have been charged criminally after their children were accused in shootings. … Prosecutors have said that Colin Gray gave his son the rifle as a Christmas gift and also bought him ammunition, a gun sight and other shooting accessories.” (07/30/26)
- Pope Leo promotes archbishop who barred Pelosi from Communion to one of Vatican’s highest courts
Source: New York Post
“Pope Leo XIV has appointed San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, who made international headlines after barring then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from receiving Holy Communion over her support for abortion rights, to serve on the Vatican’s highest judicial body, in an announcement Saturday. Cordileone was among seven clergy named to the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the Catholic Church’s highest court after the pope. The appointment allows him to continue leading the Archdiocese of San Francisco while serving a five-year term on the Vatican tribunal, which oversees the administration of justice within the Church. … In 2022, Cordileone said that Pelosi would be banned from receiving Holy Communion in her own San Francisco Archdiocese because of her pro-abortion position.” (07/29/26)
- Deadly overnight raid on a Pakistani police post leaves 11 officers and 15 attackers dead
Source: ABC News
“The death toll from an overnight deadly militant attack on a police post in northwestern Pakistan rose to 11 early Thursday, police and a government official said. Security forces killed 15 militants in an hourlong gunbattle after they targeted the Khazina police post in Hangu district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan, police official Irfan Khan said. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the assault. Suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, which has stepped up attacks on Pakistani security forces in the region in recent months.” (07/30/26)
- Ghana hit by nationwide blackout as power plants fail
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“A major fault on Ghana’s national power grid has triggered widespread outages, leaving the capital, Accra, the commercial hub of Kumasi and much of north without electricity. Several power plants across the West African nation were forced to shut down in the early hours of Wednesday morning, the state-run power distribution company said. … Ghana, one of the world’s biggest producers of both gold and cocoa, has in recent years started using gas to generate electricity to help with demand as the population grows and becomes more urbanised. Most of the country’s electricity is generated by ageing hydropower plants, which have suffered from poor maintenance over years.” (07/29/26)
- SpaceX launches classified NRO payload from Florida
Source: United Press International
“A Falcon 9 rocket topped with a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office launched from Florida’s east coast early Thursday. The rocket launched at 3:10 a.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Little information about the NROL-95 mission has been made public aside from the fact that the payload was designed, built and will be operated by the NRO. The broadcast of the launch was restricted at the request of the NRO, SpaceX said, with the second stage two and deployment of the payload not shown.” (07/29/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/07/30/SpaceX-NRO-launch/4641785394921/
- US Army conducts first overseas test of ‘Hammer of the Gods’ weapon-disrupting system
Source: Fox News
“The U.S. Army on Sunday revealed it has tested a new warfare system overseas designed to covertly scramble the navigation signals used by enemy precision weapons, making it harder for adversaries to accurately strike targets from long distances while avoiding detection. The electronic system, dubbed ‘Hammer of the Gods,’ was tested at sea off the U.S. West Coast for the first time in mid-July as part of the Project Convergence Capstone 6 (PC-C6) experiment. While land-based versions have been demonstrated over the past two years, the exercise marked the official debut of the maritime variant, the Army said.” (07/29/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/us/army-conducts-first-overseas-test-hammer-gods-weapon-disrupting-system
- Trump unveils Dulles airport overhaul
Source: Politico
“President Donald Trump on Wednesday unveiled plans to revamp Dulles International Airport that would create an underground train and ditch the controversial ‘people movers,’ the bus-like mobile vehicles that transport passengers arriving from international destinations. Trump has taken a keen interest in the long-discussed overhaul of the airport in Northern Virginia, while disparaging it as ‘terrible’ and ‘incorrectly designed.’ … The proposed upgrades would significantly overhaul the experience for passengers at Dulles. Expanded parking, redesigned check-in areas and more efficient security screening aimed at reducing congestion are among the proposed upgrades. The project will preserve Dulles’ legendary main terminal, which was designed by Eero Saarinen, officials said.” (07/29/26)
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/29/trump-dulles-airport-overhaul-01015447
- Kevin Warsh just pulled back the curtain on America’s economic progress
Source: Washington Examiner
by Dan Varroney“Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh pulled back the curtain this week on an economy making more progress than people feel. Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index stood at minus 31 in July, and two-thirds of people said conditions were getting worse. Yet consumers continue to spend, workers are holding on to their jobs, and businesses are investing heavily in the technology and productive capacity that will shape what comes next. People may feel uncertain, but they are not acting defeated. Warsh called the economy’s resilience ‘impressive’ after the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady. He pointed to solid growth, job gains keeping pace with the workforce, and an unemployment rate that has changed little, even as inflation remains above the Fed’s 2% goal.” (07/30/26)
- Socialism Equals Poverty and Free Markets Equal High Standards of Living
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger“Before the government can give money away, it must first have money. … This is what socialists fail to realize when they advocate socialism. The reason they don’t consider it is because there is already wealth that has been built up in society that they want to seize and redistribute. They see all that wealth and simply take it for granted. Why not have the government seize part of that wealth and use to to help the poor, needy, and disadvantaged as well as seniors? But there are two important points here. One, socialists never ask: What was it that brought that wealth into existence? They just see it and want to grab it. And, two, by interrupting the process of wealth creation, they don’t realize that their seizure of wealth results in lower standards of living for everyone, especially the poor.” (07/30/26)
- Right-Wing Media and OnlyFans Are in a Symbiotic Relationship
Source: The Bulwark
by Will Sommer“There’s a new MAGA personality on the scene: Savanna Cannon. Parroting talking points about wacko liberals and often wearing a Charlie Kirk–style ‘Freedom’ shirt, Cannon looks and sounds like she came straight out of the Turning Point USA or PragerU conservative influencer pipelines. ‘People who don’t like what I say are, more than likely, braindead,’ Cannon declared in one video last week that sums up her facts-don’t-care-about-your-feelings style. But Cannon has one big advantage over her rival conservative commentators: she sits in an unusual way. Cannon typically records her videos leaning back in a chair while wearing yoga pants, with her legs pulled up on either side of her. It’s a pose that highlights everything a more prurient viewer might hope to see: her bare feet and—forgive me, I am only reporting the facts here—the faint outline of her genitals.” (07/30/26)
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/right-wing-media-and-onlyfans-are-symbiotic-relationship
- Meeting with Trump signals Netanyahu’s Clout Is Waning
Source: Informed Comment
by Christian Emery“Appearing increasingly isolated and weakened, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu travelled to Washington this week, where he had a face-to-face meeting with Donald Trump – his eighth of the US president’s second term. Netanyahu is desperate to revive his image as the closest ally of the most powerful man in the world, but his star has fallen dramatically in Washington since his last trip. The US president has problems of his own, so he clearly had little appetite for a photo opportunity with a deeply unpopular Israeli leader widely blamed for convincing him to launch an unwinnable war against a state few Americans saw as a serious threat.” (07/30/26)
https://www.juancole.com/2026/07/meeting-signals-netanyahus.html
- The front line of combating self-censorship is the classroom
Source: Expression
by Caroline Cunningham“A formidable enemy of free speech on college campuses is self-censorship. Much has been said about how to make students more willing to voice their opinions, but proposed solutions often overlook the people best positioned to change the culture where self-censorship frequently occurs: professors. Professors shape many of the environments where students decide whether speaking candidly is worth the risk. In a FIRE student survey conducted in 2025, 72% of students said they self-censor at least occasionally either when speaking in class or with a professor. Yet despite their direct influence over students’ willingness to speak, professors — and the classroom techniques they employ — remain underused in efforts to address the problem.” (07/30/26)
https://expression.fire.org/p/the-front-line-of-combating-self
- Kentucky school choice will benefit all students — including those in public schools
Source: Bluegrass Institute
by Mark D Guilfoyle & Andrew J Vandiver“Reasonable people can disagree about education policy. They can disagree about charter schools, vouchers, and the proper role of government in education. But House Bill 1 is different from many of those debates.” (07/30/26)
https://www.bluegrassinstitute.org/school-choice-benefit-all-students/
- Trump’s Boat Strikes Killed 221 People, but Didn’t Win the War on Drugs
Source: Reason
by Tosin Akintola“Last September, the U.S. military fired the first of 63 strikes against 67 small fishing boats in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean. The spate of killings in Operation Southern Spear has claimed 221 lives so far, according to the Washington Office on Latin America, a human rights organization. In April, President Donald Trump boasted about the effectiveness of his extrajudicial maritime strikes against alleged drug traffickers, claiming his methods had stopped 98.2 percent of all drugs coming into the country by ocean or sea. However, new evidence from those inside the Trump administration shows the strikes have not slowed the flow of drugs coming into the country.” (07/30/26)
https://reason.com/2026/07/30/trumps-boat-strikes-killed-221-people-but-didnt-win-the-war-on-drugs/
- Fauci took the Fifth, but his diary may have already answered for him
Source: Fox News
by Jonathan Turley“The fact is that diaries tend to be self-obsessed, and no one would want their unvarnished private thoughts made public. Rather, my gripe with these passages is one I have previously raised in criticism of Fauci. During this period, dissenting scientists were barred from social media, removed from positions and vilified for expressing views despite now being vindicated on subjects ranging from the lab origin of the virus to the efficacy of masks, the 6-foot rule, natural immunity and school closures. As these courageous scientists were being abused by academic and media figures who still hold their positions, Fauci said not a word in their defense despite privately acknowledging that they could be right.” (07/30/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/jonathan-turley-fauci-took-fifth-diary-may-have-answered
- A Head for an Eye: The Government’s War on the American People
Source: Rutherford Institute
by John & Nisha Whitehead“We have been ambushed. We should be talking about the dangerous, destabilizing things being done to this country. … Instead, we are trapped in a vicious loop of nonsense, mania, political demagoguery and manufactured spectacle while the country goes to hell in a handbasket. Every day—sometimes every hour—brings another outrage, another threat, another vulgar display of power, another self-glorifying meme, another political provocation and another distraction demanding our attention. Before we can fully comprehend one assault on the Republic, another takes its place. That is not merely the chaos surrounding this government. It is one of the ways this government maintains power.” (07/30/26)
- Don’t let democratic socialists pretend they’re moderates
Source: USA Today
by Dace Potas“Mamdani presents democratic socialism as little more than libraries, public schools and fire departments. The Democratic Socialists of America describe something far more sweeping. Recasting those ambitions as familiar public services is an effort to launder radical ideas into the mainstream. … Democratic socialists in office aren’t shy about wanting to replace capitalism. They are, after all, socialists. But their ambitions extend well beyond shifting some industries from private to public ownership. The Democratic Socialists of America’s platform calls for abolishing the police and prison system, abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, establishing universal rent control, enacting reparations and much more.” (07/30/26)
- We’ve Officially Entered the Twilight of Late-Stage Trumpism
Source: The New Republic
by Greg Sargent“No one has ever seen anything like it, as Donald Trump himself might say. Buried in a new CNN poll is something striking: Trump isn’t just cratering by conventional approval measurements; he’s also absolutely collapsing by many metrics involving personal traits, from his mental state to his disconnectedness from ordinary people to his fondness for building monuments to himself. Welcome to the era of Late-Stage Trumpism. The ‘personalist’ aspects of Trumpian rule—the shaping of much of the government and even the physical capital of Washington, D.C., around one man’s relentless self-dealing and self-aggrandizement—have all started imploding in on themselves, in a collapsing supernova of venality and megalomania.” (07/30/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/213727/trump-polls-approval-twilight-late-stage-trumpism
- Trump Inherited Peace Deals But Torched Them For More War, And Other Notes
Source: Caitlin Johnstone
by Caitlin Johnstone“Trump inherited a perfectly functional Iran nuclear deal in his first term and ceasefires between Yemen and Saudi Arabia and between Israel and Hezbollah in his second term. He had the possibility of peace in the middle east handed to him on a golden platter, and he actively torched it.” (07/30/26)
- How Education Entrepreneurs Can Overcome Regulatory Challenges
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Denise Lever“When founders start education businesses, the conversations revolve around the learners. Founders focus on curriculum, culture, families, vision, and mission. Then months, and sometimes years, later, the questions shift to different concerns. ‘Do I need a business license?’ ‘Where do I get insurance?’ ‘How do I know who has jurisdiction?’ and, eventually, ‘Do you know a good lawyer?’ Many founders willingly invest hundreds of hours learning about child development, curriculum, and how to build a learning community culture. What many don’t anticipate is that bringing that vision to life also requires understanding lease agreements, zoning, employment law, insurance, building codes, and a host of other regulations that have little to do with education and everything to do with operating a successful education business.” (07/30/26)
https://fee.org/articles/how-education-entrepreneurs-can-overcome-regulatory-challenges/
- Trading Our Way to Wealth
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Madsen Pirie“Every voluntary trade makes both parties richer. The buyer values what they receive more than what they give up. The seller values what he or she receives more than what they give up. Nothing is created in a factory sense, yet wealth appears, because both sides end up holding something they prize more highly than what they started with. This is not a zero-sum shuffle of existing goods. It is the mechanism by which economies grow.” (07/30/26)
- Who Gets Rich from Innovation? Evidence from Broadband Expansion on the Colville Reservation
Source: The Daily Economy
by Vincent Geloso“The biggest winners from new technologies are usually the people who use them, not the people who invent them.” (07/30/26)
- Five Things to Know About the DSA
Source: The Next Move
by Garry Kasparov“We can’t ignore the DSA and its influential boosters. Comments on my last article tried to deflect from the socialist problem. One reader argued that this is all a sideshow, pointing out that the DSA has only 100,000 members. I get it. With ICE agents continuing on their unrestrained rampage and a new Watergate practically every day, self-reflection feels difficult for many in the anti-Trump camp. But blindness is a recipe for disaster. Simple statistics like the number of card-carrying members belie the DSA’s growing sway in the Democratic Party. Who is involved matters much more than how many formally pay dues to the organization.” (07/30/26)
https://www.thenextmove.org/p/five-things-to-know-about-the-dsa
- Fauci: Diary of a Celebrity
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Maryanne Demasi“By positioning himself as the indispensable face of the pandemic, Fauci ensured that questioning the official narrative meant questioning him—and questioning him meant questioning science itself. The diary thus reads as the logical prelude to his 2021 declaration: ‘They’re really criticising science because I represent science.’ After reading these private entries, the remark no longer sounds like an off-the-cuff comment, but rather the inevitable conclusion of a man who had come to believe he was the final arbiter of truth.” (07/30/26)
- Of course Anthony Fauci took the Fifth — and I know the damning reason why
Source: New York Post
by Steven W Mosher“Despite being pardoned by President Biden for his COVID crimes, Anthony Fauci pled his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. He refused to answer a single question about his role in pandemic policy before the Homeland Security Committee, chaired by Senator Rand Paul, despite being immune from prosecution. I think I know why.” (07/29/26)
- The Truth About Universal Coverage
Source: Law & Liberty
by Brian Balfour“Europe shows the risks of expanding government control over health care.” (07/30/26)
- When ‘Consumer Protection’ Protects Producers from Competition
Source: The Daily Economy
by Daniel J Smith“Claims to ‘protect consumers’ often shield established industries from competition. The century-old battle over the definition of ‘whiskey’ shows how.” (07/30/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/when-consumer-protection-protects-producers-from-competition/
- America the Market
Source: EconLog
by Nathanael Snow“[Adam Smith] explains the mechanisms that Crown and Parliament in Great Britain used to achieve their goals through intervention into and control over the lives of colonists. Great Britain imposed protections and privileges for a subset of society, foreclosed on the colonists’ right to self governance, and advanced institutions to promote British nationalism. In contrast, Smith and the colonists seek after impartial institutions that govern for the welfare of all, analogous to a market.” (07/30/26)
- Cato Podcast, 07/30/26
Source: Cato Institute
“AI: Must We Act Now?” (07/30/26)
https://www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-podcast/ai-must-we-act-now
- Reality is a Communist Plot
Source: Paul Krugman
by Paul Krugman“If believing something suits MAGA’s prejudices and interests, they don’t hesitate: they simply insist that it’s true. They routinely dismiss scientific and statistical evidence, but they don’t stop there. They’re perfectly willing to deny reality even if the truth is staring them in the face. Thus, Trump urged Americans to remember that 2024 TV blackout, which nobody remembers because it didn’t happen. He insists that California has ‘blackouts and brownouts every weekend,’ when the state’s 39 million residents can tell you it doesn’t. He says that you must show ID to buy groceries, which everyone who buys their own food knows isn’t so. Do Trump and his followers actually believe these things? As I see it, that’s a category error, starting from the presumption that they even accept that objective facts exist.” (07/30/26)
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/reality-is-a-communist-plot
- The Money That Bought the War Is on the Blockchain
Source: Antiwar.com
by Thomas S Karat“Four days before Donald Trump took the oath a second time, a company controlled by the intelligence chief of a foreign monarchy wired the president-elect’s family its first installment. The date was January 16, 2025. The buyer was Aryam Investment 1, a vehicle backed by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, national security adviser of the United Arab Emirates and brother of its ruler, a man his own country’s press calls the spy sheikh. The purchase was 49 percent of World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s cryptocurrency firm, for $500 million. … What that money bought is the subject of this account. It did not buy a dinner, though there was a dinner. It bought the machinery of the American national-security state, piece by piece, and the transactions can be traced with the precision of a bank statement, because for once the participants did not trouble to hide them.” (07/30/26)
- Making Sense Of the Sahel When Washington Can’t
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Joseph Solis-Mullen“For nearly twenty-five years, Washington has quietly expanded America’s Global War on Terror across Africa. Today, U.S. military activities stretch from the Horn of Africa through the Sahel to the Atlantic coast, encompassing intelligence bases, drone operations, special operations deployments, partner-force training, logistical support, surveillance missions, and recurring multinational exercises. Yet if the objective has been to produce a more secure region, the strategic picture is difficult to reconcile with the investment. To understand why, begin with a map.” (07/30/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/making-sense-of-the-sahel-when-washington-cant
- Trump is still playing a reality-TV role
Source: Los Angeles Times
by Jackie Calmes“For 14 seasons right up to his first run for president, Donald Trump was the star of his own reality shows, ‘The Apprentice’ and then ‘The Celebrity Apprentice.’ The shows stopped, but Trump as president is still creating his own reality. … In the increasingly warped world in which the showrunner president appears to dwell, he inherited messes and created the best economy in history. Trump took a country that was an international laughingstock and made it respected again. He won election three times, he said yet again at Friday’s White House Correspondents Assn. dinner. But the second was rigged against him, so brave ‘patriots’ revolted on Jan. 6, 2021; they were ultimately foiled and then unfairly prosecuted and convicted — only to have super-hero Trump return to dispense clemency and spring the freedom-fighters on his first day back in office. Daily, on matters big and small, the president just makes things up.” (07/30/26)
- The Democracy They Warned Us About
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson“he Democratic Socialists of America, an insurgency within the Democratic Party, is having a moment, and it is showing us something worth noticing: This is the democracy John Adams warned us about. Given the record of socialism in power, critics of the DSA and what it stands for are justified in suspecting that these radicals are not actually all that serious about the democratic part of democratic socialism, that the word ‘Democratic’ in the faction’s name is no more meaningful than in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. But the thing to be feared here is the opposite: They are extremely serious about the democratic part and will strip Americans of their rights, liberty, and property in the name of—and with the aid of—democracy.” (07/30/26)
https://thedispatch.com/article/democracy-socialism-adams-mob/
- Desperately Seeking Scapegoats
Source: Common Dreams
by Abby Zimet“Rand [Paul] and other Republicans tried to claim Fauci had no right to take the Fifth because Biden issued him a preemptive pardon that eliminated that privilege, an ongoing debate in some legal circles. What is not debated though Repubs tried to argue otherwise: Invoking the Fifth Amendment is not a confession of guilt, but a foundational right against self-incrimination as long as there exists a valid threat of prosecution. Most pointedly, the Fifth does not represent guilt but ‘the ordinary caution’ of any citizen who is dragged before a hostile panel by a vindictive chairman vowing for years to put him behind bars, and who ‘understands this hearing was never a search for information but a search for a crime – of having stood in public and told a frightened country the truth, while a president lied to it.'” (07/30/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/further/desperately-seeking-scapegoats-2677287389
- The Goal of Socialists Is Socialism — Not Prosperity
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by William L Anderson“As I observe (and participate in) a few discussions on Facebook and elsewhere about socialism, I have come to a few conclusions about the nature of the arguments and the reasons why socialists remain socialists even as we see the utter failure of socialist economies throughout history. Maybe the meme that appears once in a while — ‘If socialists understood economics, they wouldn’t be socialists’ — might be true, but I doubt it. As I see it, the purpose of establishing socialism is to further promote socialism, not improve the lot of a society and certainly not to promote prosperity.” (07/30/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/goal-socialists-socialism-not-prosperity
- How much is your support for Israel worth? Try $1 billion.
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Courtney Rawlings“Israel is spending wads of cash on public diplomacy in a desperate attempt to reverse waning American support for the country after it stands accused of genocide in Gaza and pushing the U.S. into the Iran war. Since Oct. 7, Israel has spent over a billion dollars on global ‘hasbara’ — television appearances, social media campaigns, chat-bot training, and other efforts to influence how people think about Israel. And this ‘public diplomacy’ budget more than quadrupled in the last year alone.” (07/30/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/israel-influence-campaign/
- The Pocket Adam Smith
Source: Law & Liberty
by Julia R Cartwright“Leonidas Montes has spent a whole career thinking about what the eighteenth century Scotsman was trying to say.” (07/30/26)
- Prairieland: A Tactical and Strategic Analysis
Source: Liberal Currents
by Samantha Hancox-Li“The events at Prairieland on July 4, 2025, resulted in a large number of activists arrested, no national upsurge in anti-ICE sentiment, and legal and propaganda victories for the government. A tactical analysis of Prairieland is a case study in mistakes. But negative examples are nevertheless useful for future organizing.” (07/30/26)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/prairieland-a-tactical-and-strategic-analysis/
- The Iran War Is Lose-Lose
Source: The American Conservative
by Dr. Ionut Popescu“The conflict between the United States and Iran has laid bare a profound failure of political judgment and strategic adaptation in Washington and Tehran alike. Both sides locked themselves into rigid adversarial paradigms and prioritized short-term tactical military successes at the expense of long-term strategy. For the United States in particular, this failure is a symptom of a much larger, more dangerous disease—a stubborn adherence to a militaristic, interventionist grand strategy that refuses to accept the realities of a multipolar world in which its relative financial and military resources are much more limited. The on-again, off-again conflict, characterized by tit-for-tat retaliatory strikes, is a lose-lose situation for both parties and for the region as a whole, yet we are unlikely to escape this tragic dynamic unless more realist strategic thinking prevails in both Washington and Tehran.” (07/30/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-iran-war-is-lose-lose/
- Right-to-Try Laws Could Increase Gene Therapy Access
Source: Independent Institute
by Raymond J March“The United States leads the world in approved gene therapies. Europe and China aren’t far behind. That sounds like good news, and it is, until you see how far all of them remain from what the technology can do. What’s the holdup? Unsurprisingly, regulation.” (07/29/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/07/29/right-try-laws-gene-therapy-access/
- Your Internet Doesn’t Need to Be Big
Source: Aaron Ross Powell
by Aaron Ross Powell“You probably won’t ever be big. No matter where you make your digital home. This isn’t a knock against you (I’m sure your content is great), it’s just that basically no one gets big. Certainly not big enough to make a living at it. Still, though, maybe you’ll be the exception? So you might as well stick with the place everyone else is, who knows? … by not moving to somewhere that might be better for you, healthier or more fun, and doing it because you want to be in the one place everyone else is, you’re probably just denying yourself a good deal of digital enjoyment.” (07/29/26)
- The Political Orphanage
Source: The Political Orphanage
“Richard Hanania on Populism Eating America.” (07/30/26)
https://politicalorphanage.libsyn.com/richard-hanania-on-populism-eating-america
- Caveman NIMBY
Source: Reason
“Early man fights to build a house.” (07/30/26)
- Serious Trouble, 07/30/26
Source: Serious Trouble
“Comey’s Got the Moves.” (07/30/26)
- Wash Your Hands of It
Source: Underthrow
“National healing starts when we no longer expect our rulers to heal us.” (07/30/26)
- Nick Cleveland-Stout on The Scott Horton Show
Source: The Scott Horton Show
“Scott interviews Nick Cleveland-Stout from Responsible Statecraft about his reporting on the Israel lobby’s multifaceted attempt to influence the American public.” (07/30/26)
- The Headlines, 07/30/26
Source: New York Times
“How the War With Iran Is Widening, and U.S. Hospitals See a Surge of Uninsured Patients.” (07/30/26)
- The Blessings of Liberty with Jeffrey Rosen, 07/30/26
Source: The Blessings of Liberty with Jeffrey Rosen
“Conspirator in Chief: The Long Tradition of Conspiracy Theories in the American Presidency.” (07/30/26)
https://rosenjeffrey.substack.com/p/conspirator-in-chief-the-long-tradition
- Advisory Opinions, 07/30/26
Source: The Dispatch
“Receipts on the Senate Filibuster | Interview: Mike ‘Frags’ Fragoso.” (07/30/26)
- The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 07/30/26
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Humiliated by Iran, Comey Flops as Aides Leak: He’s ‘Frustrated.'” (07/30/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/213725/trump-humiliated-iran-comey-flops-aides-leak-he-frustrated
- So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, 07/29/26
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
“The Trump admin wants to change how scientific research is funded w/ Catharine Young, Evan Morris, and Ryne Weiss.” (07/29/26)
- Fountainhead Forum, episode 473
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Jesse Walker on the ideas and life of Robert Anton Wilson.” (07/29/26)
https://rumble.com/v7dgoog-ff-473-jesse-walker-on-the-ideas-and-life-of-robert-anton-wilson.html
- The Libertarian Angle, 07/29/26
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“Central Planning at the Fed.” (07/29/26)
- The Kyle Anzalone Show, 07/29/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Tucker Blasts Trump as ‘Weak’ for Allowing Netanyahu to Drag Him to War.” (07/29/26)
- Politico Playbook Audio Briefing, 07/30/26
Source: Politico
“How Michigan is shaping the Democratic Party.” (07/30/26)
- LPA Two Hour Lunch Hour, episode 4
Source: LP Alliance
“Join us for our anything goes podcast every Wednesday at noon eastern!” (07/29/26)
- The Chris Hedges Report, 07/29/26
Source: The Chris Hedges Report
“Why the U.S. Military is ‘Earth’s Greatest Enemy’ (w/ Abby Martin).” (07/29/26)
https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/why-the-us-military-is-earths-greatest
- Kibbe on Liberty, episode 397
Source: Free the People
“Kids Should Learn About American Exceptionalism | Guest: Kelley Paul.” (07/29/26)